1835. 



AURA — THURO — MASSACRE. 



old 



own open whale boat, with a crew of five natives ; two being 

 Chain Islanders, one a native of the Gambier Islands, one from 

 the Marquesas, and one from the ferocious set who live upon 

 an island called Aura.* Knowing their habits, and understand- 

 ing their language, radically the same though differing in 

 dialect, had assisted his daring and enterprising disposition 

 in a series of wanderings about all the islands which lie in this 

 quarter of the Pacific. He sold me a chart, made by himself, 

 in which, he said, every one of the Low Islands was marked, 

 though not correctly.-|- From him I obtained their native 

 names also, with the proper pronunciation. He says the 

 natives are great talkers, and have very good memories : for 

 hours at a time he has often listened, with the deepest interest, 

 to their traditions, and to the terrible tales of their inhuman 

 warfare. About the year 1800, as near as he could ascertain, 

 a ship was cast away upon the low island Arutua : J her crew 

 were Europeans (meaning white men). The people of Arutua 

 offered no violence, but the blood-thirsty natives of Aura hear- 

 ing of the wreck, repaired to the place in a body, and massacred 

 every man. 



In the year 1831, the master and mate of the unfortunate 

 Truro, passing by Aura in a small boat, were invited ashore 

 by many friendly signs. They suspected no danger, landed 

 together, without arms, were instantly speared by the treacher- 

 ous natives, and fell, embracing each other. § Those islands 

 are supposed, by Middleton, to have received their earlier 

 inhabitants from the Marquesas; and a few, latterly, from 

 Otaheite. 



By frequent intercourse, by presents, and by some slight 

 knowledge of medicine, Middleton thought he had established 



* Excepting- the savages of Aura the natives of Chain Island have 

 conquered, successively, all the other islanders in their neighbourhood. 

 On Chain Island there are more hogs and fruits than on any other low 

 island. 



t Some of these data were used in adding to Admiral Krusenstern's 

 chart. + I do not know its position. 



§ I remarked that the heads of the Otaheitans and those few of the 

 Chain Islanders whom I saw, were strikingly different, but truly con- 

 formable to their respective characters. 



